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Monday, December 19, 2011

A Curious Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree is a source of delight for all of us. It is a new one, quite posh and 7 feet tall.

You may remember last year I wrote in a blog about the joy I have each year in greeting all of the decorations as 'friends'. The decorations are prompts and reminders of special times in my life. Decorating the Christmas tree is a time of re-visiting my life for me. I love decorating the Christmas Tree.

This year its life as an 'adult' Christmas Tree was only a day long. In that day it looked fabulous. Stunning in all of it’s balance and symmetry. Now it is decorated in two halves - the top half is the ‘adult’ half - it drips with the breakable baubles. The bottom half my grandchildren get to touch and play with. My grandchildren check out the decorations. They take them off, move them around and now happily all three of my mobile grandchildren can put them back on. I have the most undecorated and re-decorated Christmas tree in the world.

Zane, (21months) categorised the Christmas tree decorations! He likes to remove the decorations and carry them around. He has a transporting schema. The other day he walked straight in to our house and searched the tree. He found 3 matching embroidered NZ birds and placed them carefully on the coffee table. He said “Birds". Went back to the tree found 3 matching glitter gold stars and placed them carefully on the coffee table. He said “Stars". Then went back again and searched (read rustled with both hands in the branches now) and pulled out three matching branches of berries. Placed them on the coffee table carefully and said "Strawberries". He then went off to play only once glancing back to the coffee table totally satisfied.

I am so curious about him and his learning.

Pipiana is especially curious about the lights and sparkly things. As she fondled and re-arranged some decorations the other day she looked over at her mummy kindly reassuring her and said “Mummy! just looking!!?” They both smiled at each other, mummy raised her eyebrows and Pipiana carried on re-decorating the Tree.

I am curious about the kind ‘looking’ we love in our house that looks like enquiring with one’s own hands.

Hawaiki’s curiosity lies in the vehicles on the tree and the magnificence of the Tree’s height. And... of course! the magnificence of his own 4 year old growth and height, and his own place in our family - being the oldest and tallest grandchild. He stood beside his cousin, sister and the Tree, he pulled himself up to his tallest self, and raised his hand above his head and said “Whoa this is a BIG Christmas tree Nana - and I am up to here”. “Whoa you have grown such a lot Hawaiki. You are getting as tall as the Christmas tree”. I am curious about how tall he may grow and who he may be.

I love my Christmas Tree, I love the decorations and the prompts they provide for my remembering, and most of all I love the kind of curious learning and love the Christmas Tree invites and provokes.